Eternity In A Moment
by LadyV77
Summary: One-shot alt. ending to the Series One finale, Parting of the Ways. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, Rose was able to be everywhere at once and learn more than expected during her short time as the Time Goddess-Bad Wolf. Rose9, hints of Rose9Jack


**Title:** Eternity In A Moment

**Summary:** One-shot alt. ending to the Series One finale, Parting of the Ways. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, Rose was able to be everywhere at once and learn more than expected during her short time as the Time Goddess-Bad Wolf. Rose9, hints of Rose9Jack

**Disclaimer:** Don't own em. The BBC and other brilliant people do.

**Author's Note:** David Tennant does a great job as Ten, but I am and always will be a bigger fan of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor (you never forget your first, I suppose). Therefore I had to write this little blurb to "correct" Parting of the Ways, as it were. I'm sure it's been done to death, but I like to get my version of things out there… even if it is way more than a day late and a dollar short.

_One thing to keep in mind_: in my story Rose wakes up shortly after the Doctor takes her back into the TARDIS and not when they're already under way like in the episode.

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Rose woke up and blinked groggily, surprised to find herself lying on the floor of the TARDIS. The last thing she remembered was trying desperately to find a way to get the bloody machine open so she could get back to the Doctor. Hearing movement aside from her own, Rose sat up excitedly. Had it worked?

Her gaze traveled the familiar contours of the TARDIS's control room, eventually settling on the comforting sight of the leather jacket encasing the Doctor's back. Her heart leapt with the absolute joy and relief of seeing him again. He was moving around the center console, flipping switches and pulling levers. But there was something different about his movements. Something not quite right. The relief she felt dimmed a bit. The Doctor was not his normal, hurried self.

Whatever had happened between the Doctor and the Daleks, it must have been particularly horrid. No matter what they had been through before, the Doctor had always bounced back once they returned to their home onboard the TARDIS. She wondered briefly if it had anything to do with the fact that there was neither sight nor sound of Jack. Surely the Daleks hadn't killed the irrepressible Captain Harkness?

Moving her hands so she could push herself up and go to the Doctor, Rose paused, confused, when something crinkled in the palm of her right hand. She raised her arm, staring at the small folded piece of paper she discovered. Opening it, she read a single word… oddly in her own somewhat messy handwriting.

_Remember_.

As she stared in puzzlement at the short, cryptic note, a tiny golden light floated up from one of the creases in the paper. Spellbound, Rose was unable to even blink as the small speck glided up and into her eye. And she suddenly remembered. Everything.

Well, maybe not _everything_. Her new, or rather, _returned_ knowledge let her know that if she actually remembered and absorbed every bit of what she'd experienced before… all of eternity burning in her mind's eye every moment… it would kill her. The Doctor had already saved her from that once. At great cost to himself: one of the very few regenerations left to him. But when he had taken the Time Vortex from her and returned it to the TARDIS, the TARDIS had seen what she'd seen. Seen and been intent on changing it. The Doctor's shift from his ninth to tenth forms less than a year after his last regeneration had been a catalyst for things taking a huge turn for the worse, a turn that would lead to their permanent separation before too long.

The thought was a physical ache the likes of which she'd never felt before. Nothing in all their misadventures could have prepared her for it. Rose's eyes widened when something sparked. _She_ was the Bad Wolf. Or rather, the Time Goddess she had become with the Vortex inside her was the Bad Wolf. It was almost funny. She had been so worried about the two words that had followed them everywhere. Not because of the supposed negative connotation of the nursery story villain, but because the Doctor _not knowing_ how someone could be following them through time was frightening. And all along it had been _her_… a way to warn herself to do whatever she could to get back to the Doctor.

To take her turn at being the hero, the one who ultimately saved the day.

She had destroyed the Daleks and undone at least one small part of the damage they'd wrought. Now she just had to finish the job. What the TARDIS wanted her to do was dangerous, and it would irrevocably tie her to the ship if it even worked, but it was worth the risk to Rose. More than worth it, even if it meant her death. Better to die saving the man she loved… for no matter what else he was, he was still a man… from future trouble than to risk what would come if she didn't try. Despite her resolve, Rose's hands shook as she shoved the scrap of paper in her pocket and walked toward the Doctor.

"Up already?" he asked when he turned his head to look at her.

Rose noted the strain on his face and the way he was leaning a bit too heavily against the surface of the control panels. Luckily, he was positioned just right for her to slip the fingertips of one hand into a crack in the cover she'd pried off to look into the TARDIS, wrapping the fingers of her other hand firmly around his wrist. It took only moments for the TARDIS to drain the rest of the Time Vortex out of the Doctor through the connection. Rose was beyond relieved when she felt it use a bit of time manipulation to also heal the damage to the Doctor's cells that the Vortex had already managed to do.

"All patched up now," she said, letting go of the Time Lord and the sentient machine; she felt a bit lightheaded but otherwise seemed none the worse for it.

It took a moment… Rose assumed he'd been fighting off the pain of the regeneration process so hard that at first he didn't notice that it had stopped… but a huge smile lit the Doctor's face as he stood up straight, and she grinned back. Seconds later the smile died and a more serious expression took hold. She could practically hear the wheels in the Doctor's head turning as he figured out what she'd done.

"Why did you do it, Rose?" he asked her softly.

"I've gotten used to your _daft old face_," she echoed the words he would have used to explain the regeneration to her, "didn't want to start all over." She smirked and wagged a finger at him, "And don't think I'm going to forget that kiss."

Just to put things back on an even keel, where he was the all-knowing superior life form and she the Companion, he admonished, "Cheeky monkey."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Speaking of… we should go pick Jack up before he gets all morbidly petulant on us for abandoning him."

Sadness filled the Doctor's expressive eyes. "Rose…"

"I… _we_ brought him back," she cut him off.

"We?" the Doctor echoed.

"The TARDIS and I," Rose told him simply.

The Doctor perked back up then… though not all the way… and began flipping switches and pulling levers again. "Right then, back to Satellite Five it is."

"Doctor? What's wrong?"

For a moment he ignored the question. When he did turn to look at her, he was at his most serious… and looked strangely vulnerable.

"Actions have consequences, Rose. I don't think you knew just what you were choosing when you did this, and Jack didn't choose at all. Because he was brought back by the Time Vortex and you were merged with it, you'll both be tied to it so long as you live. You're both going to live a lot longer than normal humans. It's all well and good to go zipping 'round the universe on adventures with me for a few years, but are you really sure you want to be stuck with me for whatever time the TARDIS has given you, Rose Tyler? It'll be a lot longer than you can truly fathom."

Rose knew if she answered right away he wouldn't trust her response. So she waited, and thought. One of the memories the Vortex had left her with was the knowledge that Jack would one day become the Face of Bo. How, she had absolutely no idea… and really, now that he wasn't going to be cut off from them, maybe it _wouldn't_ happen… but it did go to show just how long she might survive. She would long outlive her Mum, Mickey, everyone she had ever known and then some. But as long as she wouldn't outlive the Doctor, she knew she could handle the pain those losses would deal her. What she had told Mickey and Jackie when she'd still been trying to find a way back had been true; she couldn't live a normal life now. And perhaps more importantly, she didn't want to.

Full of a purpose and resolve she'd only felt before in connection with helping the Doctor through whatever their latest ordeal was, Rose stepped in close to him, lifting her hands to frame his lean face. "Haven't wanted anything else since the first time you showed me there was more out there than I could ever have imagined."

Peace filled his eyes then. She had a fleeting thought that though she would have gotten used to brown eyes, she would have missed the twinkling blue. Rose lifted herself onto her toes, her full bottom lip jutting out in a pout when he lifted his chin so she still couldn't reach to kiss him.

"What are you doin'?" she demanded. "You let Jack kiss you. You had to know he would when he did it to me first."

"I don't want to _let_ you kiss me." When her face fell at his words, the Doctor cupped it gently in his large hands to make her look at him. "I love you, Rose Tyler."

Rose's mouth opened in shock. She knew he loved her, knew how much it would have eventually torn him apart when they were separated, but she hadn't expected him to acknowledge it for some time to come. Happy tears clung to her eyelashes before dripping onto her cheeks. The Doctor brushed at the wet trails with his thumbs, leaning in to tenderly kiss one cheek and then the other. He smiled down at her before dipping once more, his lips finding hers. Rose's eyelids fluttered closed as she lost herself in the sensation of being kissed rather expertly by the man she loved. Her Doctor.

As she had teasingly told him, she would never forget the kiss he'd given her when the Time Vortex had been inside her. There had been other ways he could have initiated pulling it from her into himself, and it meant a lot that it had been that contact he'd chosen. But this meant so much more, because it wasn't brought on by a life-threatening situation. It was just him showing her what she meant to him. Then the Doctor's lips parted more and thoughts were abruptly given the heave-ho. Rose clung to him, the comforting feel of leather under her fingers making them flex searchingly. She was only distantly aware of the sound of a door opening and shutting nearby.

"Took you long enough to…" Jack's voice trailed off.

Rose was more than a little disappointed when the incredible kiss that had been heating her from her head to the very ends of her toes came to an end. She and the Doctor turned their heads to look at Jack, both still clutching each other.

Jack was grinning at them, a decidedly naughty leer on his handsome features. "Starting the party without me?"

Rose laughed at his flirting, and the Doctor snorted.

"Well," he said matter-of-factly, "that's what you get for dyin' on us."

"So that was real?" Jack asked, all playfulness leaving his expression. "The Daleks really shot me?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered, rubbing comforting circles on Rose's back. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to showing Rose how fantastic she is."

"Don't let me stop you," Jack's voice was once again light. "I'll be generous and wait til next time to join in the celebration."

"Mm," the Doctor murmured against Rose's lips. "Maybe."

**The End.**


End file.
